A compilation of daily news articles from around the United States about deaths (including both people and animals) that appear to occur in the context of a past or present intimate relationship, focusing on 2009-present. (NOTE: this blog is limited to incidents that appear in the media and are captured by our search terms. We recognize this is not an exhaustive portrayal of all deaths resulting from intimate violence.)
When is society going to realize intimate violence makes victims of us all?

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

By Crimesider Staff Topics Daily Blotter
Police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide that involved a San Jose police sergeant and his wife.
CBS San Francisco reports that Sgt. Christopher Shimek, 51, and his 43-year-old wife Lynn Shimek were found dead in their home in Gilroy late Sunday night.

Family and friends called police after not being able to contact them, authorities said. Officers were sent to the home where they found the couple's bodies. Christopher Shimek had suffered a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound and police did not release the manner in which his wife died.

NBC affiliate KSBW reports the couple's two children, ages 13 and 19, were not home at the time of the incident.

Though there is no recent report of domestic violence or disturbances at the home, a record search for their home shows that in March 2007, police responded to a call from someone reporting that Christopher Shimek allegedly hit a stepson after being "in a rage."

Christopher Shimek had been with the San Jose police department since 1995.